This invention relates to an improved low insertion/withdrawal-force connector in which female and male housings can be fitted together and disengaged from each other by a cam member with a small force.
A connector of this type as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 is proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application (OPI) No. Hei. 1-88474 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "Unexamined Published Application") In this connector, a rotation shaft a.sub.2 is formed on a hood a.sub.1 of a female housing a, and a cam follower b.sub.1 is formed on a male housing b. An operating member c has a hole c.sub.2 serving as an axis of rotation of a rotation plate c.sub.1, and a cam groove c.sub.3. Using a rotation moment of the member c, the insertion and withdrawal of the male housing b relative to the female housing a can be done easily with a smaller force.
As is clear from FIG. 15, when the operating member c is fully rotated, so that the cam follower b.sub.1 reaches an end c.sub.31 of the cam groove c.sub.3, the fitting connection between the female and male housings a and b is completed. However, the operating member c is of such a construction that it can be easily removed at any point during the time from the start to the end of the fitting operation. Therefore, there is a possibility that the operating member c may be inadvertently removed when the female and male housings a and b are still in an incompletely-fitted condition. Moreover, it is difficult to judge at a glance whether or not the fitting is complete. Furthermore, each time the fitting operation is finished, the operating member c is removed, and this increases the number of operation steps when a number of connectors are to undergo the fitting operation. Therefore, the assembling time and the labor cost are increased.